psychicforce wrote: Reading the rest of the article made me realize just how cruel showbiz can be; to drive someone to depression and suicide is just horrible. I don't know if his statements are a last minute fix for the situation to garner sympathy or if they are the truth; but I am saddened by his story. Who knew being a celeb was this taxing? T_T
I buy his story. I think he's telling the truth. He shared a lot of highly personal information with significant detail. It's true that showbiz is harsh and being a celeb requires thick skin in order to maintain sanity, but it is not unique. There are many occupations that subject the participants to similar degrees of criticism and scrutiny, perhaps not on the same scale, but definitely in terms of the general climate of the industry. Relative to celebrity, the payoff is much, much less and the cost to enter these industries can be the same if not more than what is required to become a celeb.
But back to Takaoka specifically, I think his tweets make sense given the condition of his mental and emotional state. It's very difficult to communicate, period, especially when one has gone through the emotional upheaval he described. He sounds like someone who was having a hard time expressing how he felt, perhaps because he didn't understand the source of his feelings or was reluctant to share it. Unfortunately, the media puts so much weight on every word a celeb says. We as consumers of mass media must remember that they are ordinary people, some of whom possess extraordinary talent (not all, hehe). Rarely does that talent have anything to do with religion, politics, or philosophy, but for some reason, we turn to them as if they are experts.
